Written Answers Wednesday 1 September 2010

Scottish Executive

Foster Care

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households foster for each local authority.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households foster for independent agencies, broken down by the local authority area of the household.

Adam Ingram: This information is not held centrally.

Foster Care

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are in foster care organised by each local authority.

Adam Ingram: The information requested is given in table number 3.3 of Children Looked After Statistics 2008-09 published by the Scottish Government on 24 February 2010, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50379).

Foster Care

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are in foster care organised by independent agencies, broken down by the local authority of origin of the child.

Adam Ingram: The number of children with foster carers purchased by local authorities is given in table number 3.3 of Children Looked After Statistics 2008-09  published by the Scottish Government on 24 February 2010, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 50379).

  It is not possible however to identify whether these purchased foster care placements were with independent agencies from these figures (for example, a local authority may have purchased a foster care placement from another local authority but this cannot be identified from the collected statistics).

Health

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it carried out with children and young people regarding the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill.

Nicola Sturgeon: A written consultation about proposals for a patient rights bill ran from September 2008 to January 2009. Several written responses were received from organisations working with children and young people, including Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Action for Sick Children (Scotland) and Children in Scotland. In addition, a children and young people's focus group was held on 25 November 2008. There were 11 participants, with an age range between 11 and 17 years. Further consideration about the Bill and how it might impact on children and young people can be found in the Equality Impact Assessment at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/PatientRightsBill/AccDocs.

  Prior to the launch of the consultation, I also met with a group of young people who were patients at Yorkhill Children’s Hospital. I discussed with them how they have been involved in influencing health services and discussed patients’ rights and the consultation, and encouraged their input into the consultation process.

  Since the Patient Rights (Scotland) Bill has been introduced, the Scottish Executive has met with representatives from organisations working with children and young people to discuss the implementation of the Bill and how this can be done in ways that meet the needs of children and young people. Officials will also shortly be meeting with the office of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People to discuss similar issues.

Livestock

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cloned (a) sheep and (b) cattle have entered the human food chain in Scotland.

Richard Lochhead: (a) Sheep:

  The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have advised me that there is no evidence of the current presence of any cloned sheep in the UK, nor the offspring of such animals.

  They have also advised me that there is no evidence of meat from any cloned sheep, or the offspring of cloned sheep having entered the food chain in Scotland.

  (b) Cattle:

  The FSA have advised me that there is no evidence of the presence of any cloned cattle in the UK, only the offspring of such animals and that there is no evidence of meat from any cloned cattle having entered the food chain in Scotland.

  They have also advised me that the meat from one bull, the offspring of a cloned cow, entered the food chain in Scotland in July 2009. The meat from this animal was supplied as part of a larger batch of meat from a number of animals to four butchers in Scotland and one in northern England.

Livestock

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether milk from cloned dairy cattle is entering the human food chain and, if so, whether authorisation is required for this.

Richard Lochhead: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have advised me that there is no evidence of the presence of any cloned cattle in the UK, only the offspring of such animals, and that therefore no milk from cloned cattle has entered the food chain.

  They have also advised me that they have received written assurance from all the farmers who have offspring of cloned cattle which are currently/or have been capable of producing milk, that no milk entered the food chain. Milk from these animals was disposed of in on farm slurry pits.

  The FSA have advised me that their interpretation of the Novel Food Regulations is that milk from the offspring of cloned cattle, and any subsequent generations of offspring is covered by the regulations and would require authorisation before being placed on the market.

  The FSA is reviewing its handling of the recent incident involving cloned cattle in order to learn lessons.

NHS Hospitals

Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients aged (a) under 16, (b) 16 to 24, (c) 25 to 39, (d) 40 to 59 and (e) 60 and over attended accident and emergency departments at (i) Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline and (ii) Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is not possible to provide centrally collected accident and emergency attendance data for specific age groups in each of the last five years. Detailed information has been collected since July 2007, however, patient age information for NHS Fife locations commenced in June 2009 and is known to be incomplete.

  The total numbers of accident and emergency attendances for the period 1 June 2009 to 31 March 2010 for Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline and Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy are given in the following table. The numbers in each age group (for those records where age can be determined) are also provided.

  Number of Accident and Emergency Attendances1 by Age Group – 1 June 2009 to 31 March 2010

  

 
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline


Total Attendances
34,693
33,319


Attendances Where Age Can Be Determined
23,603
22,534


Under 16s
5,257
4,037


16 to 24 Years
3,807
3,497


25 to 39 Years
4,650
4,470


40 to 59 Years
5,363
5,316


60 Plus
4,526
5,214



  Note:

  1. Includes new, planned return and unplanned return attendances.

  Source: ISD A&E Datamart

  Jim Tolson (Dunfermline West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients attended accident and emergency departments at (a) Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline and (b) Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy (i) on weekdays and (ii) at the weekend in each of the last five years.

Nicola Sturgeon: It is not possible to provide centrally collected accident and emergency attendance data for specific days over the last five years as the collection of detailed accident and emergency information commenced in July 2007. The numbers of accident and emergency attendances for each financial year from 2007-08 to 2009-10 for Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline and Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy are given in the following table, split by weekday and weekend attendances.

  Number of Accident and Emergency Attendances1 by Financial Year

  

 
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline


Year
Weekdays
Weekends
Weekdays
Weekends


00:00 Monday to 23:59 Friday
00:00 Saturday to  23:59 Sunday
12:00 Monday to 23:59 Friday
00:00 Saturday to  23:59 Sunday


2007-082
31769
12935
29520
11335


2008-09
30519
12687
27889
11359


2009-10
29678
12370
28478
11822



  Notes:

  1. Includes new, planned return and unplanned return attendances.

  2. Includes pro-rata estimates for the period 01 April 2007 to 30 June 2007.

  Source: ISD A&E Datamart

  Limited data prior to July 2007 on the number of attendances per month at each hospital is available centrally but this cannot be broken down into week days and weekends. The early data is published on ISD Scotland’s Acute Activity website at:

  http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4156.html.

Pre-School Education

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to increase funding to local authorities given the statutory requirement to increase the pre-school education entitlement for every eligible child from 474 to 570 hours per year.

Adam Ingram: Funding to support expansion of pre-school education in line with the concordat commitments was included in the current Spending Review settlement for local government. Future funding for local government, including support for pre-school education, will be dependent on the outcomes from the next Spending Review. There is no statutory requirement on councils to expand entitlement to free pre-school education to 570 hours, although we are aware that some local authorities are already providing this level of provision. 

  We are working with COSLA and the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland on the implementation of the Framework for Education, which includes further action on pre-school expansion. The framework document can be found at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/12/11081922.

Shipping

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to the Department for Transport’s review of the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations (SI 2010/1228).

Richard Lochhead: Earlier this year I wrote to the UK Government, in response to the consultation on the draft Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010, welcoming the proposals to make regulations covering the ship-to-ship transfer of oil cargoes within the United Kingdom’s internal waters and territorial seas.

  I plan to respond to the recently announced review of the regulations, reiterating my support for regulations to control ship-to-ship transfers of oil as cargo. I also plan to seek reassurances that Scottish interests are taken into account in this review.

  A copy of the Scottish Government’s response (Bib. number 51560) a copy of which will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.